“D.A. Bragg has prosecuted public corruption and police misconduct throughout his career, and has made this work a priority as district attorney,” said Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for the office. “When discovery issues dating back to 2019 arose in this trial, D.A. Bragg was immediately informed and deeply involved in correcting these errors where possible, and determining next steps.”
She said that Mr. Bragg usually met with the unit once every two weeks and has met with them about two dozen times since taking office.
Mr. Viorst’s appointment as head of the unit was announced in January 2021, with Ms. Minogue joining it the following month. In April, she became its deputy, a position she held until Tuesday, when the office removed her from her post.
Mr. Viorst had also worked for Mr. Bragg when both men were at the New York attorney general’s office, leading a unit charged with investigating police killings of unarmed civilians. It is a difficult job — the law makes it notoriously hard to even charge police officers, let alone win a guilty verdict — but under their supervision, the unit brought back zero convictions in the 24 cases it investigated. (It has had no luck since, either; the unit, now called the Office of Special Investigation, still has not won a conviction.)
It is unclear whether Mr. Bragg and Mr. Viorst could have salvaged the case against Mr. Franco after the evidence violations. Had they not occurred, there are indications that there would have been a strong case against the ex-detective.
One juror, Daniel Keehn, 30, said prosecutors had presented persuasive arguments against Mr. Franco.
“The prosecutors were doing a thorough job of laying out the case,” he said. “They did a good job building the foundation, going over the evidence.”
Ms. Minogue questioned several of Mr. Franco’s former colleagues and supervisors, and many were reluctant to condemn the former detective’s work. None said they believed he had misinformed them, even after they reviewed the prosecution’s video evidence.
Jonah E. Bromwich and Maria Cramer
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